Bundesliga World Tour 2015: Bayern return from rewarding China jaunt

Munich - The disappointment of losing their final friendly in the Far East soon transformed to satisfaction of a job well done on a rewarding tour of China for FC Bayern München.

Fine-tuningdahoam

Even Thomas Müller, whose rare penalty miss paved the way for Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande to pick up a major scalp in the Volkswagen Cup, was not getting downbeat about what was just a blot on an otherwise "satisfying" week in China.

"It was disappointing to lose on penalties – clearly I still need to work on my penalty-taking - but it's still pre-season and it will get better," Müller told fcbayern.de. "I think the trip was a great success. We enjoyed it, even if it was tiring, and now we're looking forward to getting back home; back to Bavaria."

Bayern touched down on home soil early on Friday morning and, after a light jog to loosen the limbs following a long flight, they were giventhe rest of the weekend off. Their next appointment is with VfL Wolfsburg in the Supercup on August 1, and the last week in China has served as excellent preparation not only for that fixture, but also for the ensuing season.

All boxes ticked

"It was a total success in every way," said CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. "We achieved all the objectives we had set ourselves." The Bayern brand has been reinforced in the world's most populous country, while coach Pep Guardiola was pleasantly surprised by the amount of work he was able to get done with his enthusiastic group of players.

"We did more than we had expected before," said the Catalan. "The most important thing is everybody's fit and healthy. We trained well." That view was shared by sporting director Matthias Sammer, who spoke of an "amazing achievement" for a team who shone both on and off the field. "We wanted to get the balance right between the sporting performances and the way we presented the team," he said. "And I think we managed that."

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